Category: COVID-19

OSHA Launches Program to Protect High-Risk Workers from COVID-19

Did you know that OSHA is specifically targeting restaurants, supermarkets and other businesses for COVID-related inspections? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently launched a National Emphasis Program (NEP) to significantly reduce the number of workplace exposures to COVID-19. To accomplish this goal, OSHA will be focusing enforcement efforts on employers that put the largest number of workers at serious risk of contracting COVID-19 in the workplace.

Regional offices will conduct planned inspections to find COVID-related hazards in the workplace, but they aren’t being done randomly. OSHA is specifically targeting industries with the most workers expected to perform tasks associated with COVID-19 exposure and infection. OSHA is using North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes to generate a list of primary and secondary targets.

Primary targets include healthcare industries with the most COVID-related OSHA enforcement activities over the past year. It also includes NAICS codes for various non-healthcare industries, including:

  • 445110 Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores
  • 452112 Discount Department Stores
  • 493110 General Warehousing and Storage
  • 722511 Full-Service Restaurants
  • 722513 Limited-Service Restaurants

The list of secondary targets is made up of NAICS codes for non-healthcare essential workers who are likely to have the highest frequency of close contact with the public or coworkers. It includes industry codes used in the construction, food and agriculture, manufacturing and transportation sectors. The NEP also requires OSHA to focus enforcement efforts on employers that engage in retaliation against employees who complain about unsafe conditions or exercise other rights under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Employers must provide a work environment free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm, like COVID-19. Since the NEP specifically includes establishments with fewer than 10 workers, all businesses with NAICS codes appearing on OSHA’s list of primary and secondary targets may be hearing from OSHA soon.

Please contact us for more information about risk management measures and insurance to protect businesses and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What Does it Mean to be Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19?

In the United States, nearly 2.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are being administered every day. More than 40 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving a single-dose vaccine (Johnson & Johnson) or two weeks after their second dose in a 2-dose series (Pfizer or Moderna). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fully vaccinated people can start doing some of the things they stopped doing because of COVID-19.

People who have been fully vaccinated:

  • can gather indoors with other fully vaccinated people without wearing a mask;
  • can gather indoors with unvaccinated people from one other household without masks, unless anyone has an increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19; and
  • do not need to quarantine or get tested if they are exposed to someone with COVID-19 yet remain symptom-free. (The CDC recommends that people living in a group setting should still isolate for 14 days and get tested, even those without symptoms.)

More must be learned about the COVID-19 vaccine, so for now, the CDC recommends that fully vaccinated people should still take precautions (masks, social distancing, etc.) when in public, when gathering with unvaccinated people from more than one other household or when visiting with an unvaccinated person who is at increased risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 or who lives with someone else who is. According to the CDC, fully vaccinated people should also:

The CDC will continue to update its recommendations as more is learned about the COVID-19 vaccines. In the meantime, the CDC is urging everyone, including those who are fully vaccinated, to continue taking precautions when recommended.